Your world, My world

This is a ‘Fact’!

I suspect the definition of ‘fact’ may be dependent upon the number of people subscribing to that ‘fact’. The more subscribers, the more something is accepted as a ‘fact’.

What starts out as a lie, a small piece of propaganda, can quickly turn into a ‘fact’, such is the nature of the world we live in. It may be hard to accept that this is a ‘make it up as you go along’ sort of world (another ‘fact’? hmmmm) but, given time and enough media exposure, you’ll accept anything.

Truth is relative, so are facts, so are lies, whether something has been written, or passed down, word of mouth, it is all relative. If people stop subscribing to a belief or a greater belief overshadows an existing belief, then that belief falls away into memory.

Some peoples believed in Faeries, that belief was undermined by another, imposed belief, now faeries no longer exist, or do they? And so it goes.

‘Your World – My World’

Trying to sort out fact from fiction today maybe harder than it has ever been. At no time in our recorded history have we been subject to so much information. The media, the world wide web, greater ease of communication, cellular telephones commonplace, overseas travel more affordable, all have the potential to create a very different world view.

Even defining what is fact and what is fiction today can be a challenge. What for one may be a fact is for another a fiction. Truth is relative. There may be some underlying truths, common to all people, the sun rises in the East, the world is round, at least it has been for the past few hundred years! For the purpose of this article I will stick with personal truths, not natural truths.

A personal truth for me is something that I believe in, I don’t have to think about it. I just believe, right or wrong, good or bad, it is just something that has either been passed down from my parents or my social conditioning, school, work, whatever. Very often the information upon which I have built my world, my reality, has come from others, their opinions, perceptions or values, information that was simply accepted as the way things are.

Did those whose opinions, perceptions or values that were passed on to me have any choice on their own journey as to what to believe was real or not? Or were they again the recipients of information passed on to them from their parents and their own social conditioning.

This seems to have been the way of things for quite some time now, different groups of people, various cultures and sub cultures, layers of society, all operating from a conditioned past that has been handed down to them.

With all of the information available to us today it is easier to question the accepted reality, but it still comes down to who is asking the questions? If an individual has been conditioned, sub-consciously, then that individual, the questioner, has to be limited in their beliefs and perceptions. They can only ask questions from within the ‘box’ of their own understanding.

To step out of the box is the challenge. To begin with, the fact that we are in a box has to be recognized before we even think about stepping out of it. How do we step outside of our self? Even if we recognize we are in a box, why would we want to step out of it, it is after all who we are, or believe ourselves to be. Our personality, our emotions, our thoughts, our body, all provide a sense of identity, of belonging, not something most of us would give up willingly.

Yet, I believe, it is from the various boxes of personality that the world is created, each one coming from its own perceived needs and desires, hopes and fears, its own values and truths. If we can see that by expanding the boundaries of the box we live in our world view changes, it has to, as we expand our boundaries we access more information, more information equals more choice, as long as the chooser is able to even begin to let go of tightly held beliefs about what is real and what is not.

A rigid system does not allow change, it forces its values upon those around it, taking advantage of those who feel they need someone to lead them. This just creates more conflict and chaos, look around, see the results of systems that have little or no flexibility.

But to change, to open up, move into a different world, all this requires a great deal of personal safety. We all have our own past, sometimes that past has shut us down, not noticeable today perhaps, the shutting down process can be subtle, it creeps up on you, becomes you, builds the walls of the box, all without your conscious participation. No one is going to explore options if it means being beaten up by ones own demons.